Hurwitz numbers for real polynomials (Q1989591)

The authors address the problem of enumeration of real univariate polynomials of a given degree $n$ having prescribed ramification profiles at given real critical values. The set of such polynomials appears to be finite if the sum of the reduced ramification multiplicities (defined so that only critical point are counted, and the Morse critical point has multiplicity one) equals $n-1$. The main result of the paper states that the count of the above real polynomials with certain weight equal to $\pm 1$ does not depend on the choice of a general position and the order of critical values in ${\mathbb R}$. This is the first ever real enumerative invariant in the enumerative geometry of ramified coverings of Riemann surfaces (Hurwitz theory). The authors study generating functions for their invariants and establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the non-vanishing of the invariants. They also find the logarithmic asymptotics of the absolute values of the invariants as the degree of the counted polynomials tends to infinity. It follows that this asymptotics coincides with the logarithmic asymptotics of the corresponding Hurwitz number, i.e., the number of complex polynomials matching the same ramification data. The proof of the invariance statement as well as the asymptotical computations are based on the reduction of the enumeration of polynomials to the enumeration of specific planar graphs.